


Season 14 Scene Dissections

by ladykjane



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Archived From Tumblr, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Meta, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 12:32:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16954089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladykjane/pseuds/ladykjane
Summary: Speedy Visual Scene Dissections from episodes in Season 14.





	1. 14x01 36:37-37:50

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted Oct 17th 2018 at https://kayanem.tumblr.com/post/179126686994/speedy-visual-scene-dissection-spn-14x01

At first glance, this seems a fairly standard bunker scene for SPN. At second glance … it is fairly standard, but it needs to be, to ground the episode in the normality of SPN whilst underscoring the strangeness of this specific circumstance. The dialogue and acting gets us everything we need from the scene in terms of information. Sam and Cas are both feeling Dean’s loss, and will do anything to get him back. They care about each other too, and are communicating honestly. Nice and easy!

Dialogue/acting is always fun to pick apart, but I want to talk a bit about the visual cues we get from a scene like this too, and how much that can/should play into how we read the scene.

  
So we get this lovely shot of Sam sat in the library. Clever choice of setting, since the library tends to be where more moments of greater emotional weight occur; it’s their debrief space, it’s associated as a home space rather than a active case space, it’s where Dean and Sam initialled the table. It’s also a sharp contrast to the view we see of the bustling people-busy map room earlier. Now we’re encased in a quiet, intimate, familiar setting; it’s dark, but the soft glow of the lamps is carefully illuminating all the books and ongoing research. The central lamp is brightest, ensuring Sam and Cas are surrounded by the darkness. We don’t need to see those posterboards with clippings on, we saw them earlier, but they’re here to further enclose Sam and Cas. These two are wrapped up in the loss of Dean. They’re presented equally on the screen - it’s weighing heavy on both of them - but most of the boards fall on Cas’s side of the screen. Cas is the one taking action. (But Sam is closer to the light.)

What I really love here is the subtle costuming/makeup choices of how these two present themselves to each other. It really emphasises how much trust, openness, and honesty that happens in the dialogue.

  
Sam wearing dark blue, no pattern, but still lightly layered. This is so unusual for Sam! It’s very stripped down, but also very adult and dark. The colour slides him perfectly into the bunker aesthetic. It’s a statement; Sam belongs here, visually underlining his position as a leader as he gives direction by phone (and has the books in front of him). He’s comfortable with Cas seeing him like this, there’s a sense of mutual respect and equality that isn’t weighed down by familial memory and structures.

  
Obviously Cas is limited in costume, so instead we get to see him presented still bloodied from the fight earlier. It’s a visceral visual reminder of how much Cas is willing to risk/sacrifice to get Dean back, but it also indicates that Cas isn’t hiding anything here, he’s comfortable with Sam seeing him as such. It’s also a smart way to gently remind us that whilst Cas is Other (he doesn’t care to look after his body), it also reminds us that Cas is closer to human than angel. He can be hurt, he isn’t untouched by pain.

Why is this tiny little scene important? The rest of the episode has a much wider cast, but this scene strips it back to Sam and Cas alone. We get this brief insight into how they’re feeling when they’re not trying to be anyone else for anyone else, but it also leaves a big empty space where Dean should be. Whilst we feel Dean’s loss throughout the episode, this 1min+ of screentime punctuates it, makes us feel the impact of his loss more keenly.

Also it’s _super pretty_.


	2. 14x03 5:50 - 7:04

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted 31 October 2019 https://kayanem.tumblr.com/post/179621472894/speedy-visual-scene-dissection-spn-14x03-550

Technically two intercut scenes, but shush. I wanted to talk about this scene because it’s got some fantastic subtle cues in the background to give us extra information, as well as emphasising the important parts of the dialogue.

First up - Jody texting with Claire. What a neat and tidy way to let us know that Jody and Claire are on good terms, that Claire is at home, but that she’s still hunting. Plus we get the context of their deal that Jody deals with human cases, Claire with monsters, in all of five seconds. That’s some deft exposition. It also sets up for the scene developing; Jody texts Claire that everything is no-monsters, so we know she’s working a human murder case.

  
Jody immediately takes the call from Sam, but she also gets up from her desk to take it. This takes her into a new part of the room, and suddenly she’s backlit with red light, which immediately warns us something is wrong, and the SPN fish is in the background. That fish shows up a lot in the set dressing, and it’s always symbolising something being amiss. In a similar vein, we get the deer head behind Jody, for hunting. This isn’t giving us new information, but it’s reaffirming the dialogue that follows. Jody’s case isn’t what she thinks it is, it’s a monster hunt.

  
Back at the bunker: Let’s start with a quiet moment of appreciation for the costume change from Michael’s white shirt/white-T ensemble to Dean’s black/brown layering. My boy Dean rejecting Michael in every aspect, but it also hints to Dean’s mindset. He’s gone dark, depressed, and he’s overshadowed by his experiences as a vessel.

TFW are presenting a united front. Dean sat down centrally with Sam & Cas standing at either side of him is a clear visual of their support for him (sword and shield). But again there’s a sense of being overwhelmed, overshadowed; Dean looks small and defensive, arm’s folded. There’s a beat where Cas glances at Sam over the top of Dean’s head, and it excludes Dean from their (silent) dialogue. They’re treating Dean as separate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Screencaps from homeofthenutty.com


	3. 14x05 22:12 - 24:42

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted 12 Nov 2018 at https://kayanem.tumblr.com/post/180046851679/speedy-visual-scene-dissection-spn-14x05-2212

Continuing the trend so far, I’ve picked a scene with great dialogue that is made all the better by the rest of the scene. This time I’m going to focus on the editing and visuals rather than the symbolism of lighting and props. This scene with Dean and Sasha is just _so_ rich and layered, without doing anything flashy.

  
We start from Sasha’s POV. Establishing shot focusing on her, taking pills downed with alcohol, with the rhythmic noise in the background. Dean is out of focus, barely in shot. His presence is anomalous, out of sync with her environment, and it’s grating on her. She turns to yell at Dean. Immediately we understand that they’re in muted passive conflict.

When we do get Dean in focus … _swoooon_. I’m not just talking about Ackles, so much as the whole aesthetic, because this is pure, distilled art.

  
For all that Dean is out of place in Sasha’s world, he’s sits comfortably in this space. Check out the costuming for a second: Sasha is wearing light, floaty materials and grey/white colours. She visually appears more out of place in this house than Dean, which nicely underlines how uncomfortable she feels here. Dean, on the other hand, is wearing heavy materials, dark coloured and without patterns. He’s comfortable here, not belonging but perfectly camouflaged in this dark-wood and leather environment.

  
Dean’s discomfort isn’t with the house or the job, but with other people. Look at Dean’s positioning and actions. The most obvious indicator is the machete. Dean is acting as backup for Sam here, but he’s a 6ft heavily-armed broad guy who has just established a history with killing monsters, in a room a petite woman and a man on life support. He’s not at risk in this moment, but he still chooses to sit sharpening a blade. Dean is making a point; he’s establishing a boundary, warning Sasha away from him physically. He’s explicitly telling her, I’m dangerous, I can/will use this. He’s protective of his body and his personal space. (Whether we’re consciously aware of it or not, we know Dean’s state of mind here, and this also serves to make the later Djinn attack feel all the more invasive.)

A little more subtle than a machete, but Dean also chooses to sit on the chair arm - boots on the seat! - because it further establishes his boundaries. Dean is doing what he wants. He’s not polite, he’s not going to sit on a level with Sasha, he’s not going to conform or pretend he’s something he’s not.

When Sasha sits, she chooses to sit far away from him, and she also sits – I was going to say like a normal person, but I guess, she uses a chair as it was intended? She doesn’t need to posture. She accepts Dean’s boundaries, let’s him take the high ground (literally).

Once she’s sat - boundary established, threat diminished - Dean puts the machete away, becomes less visually threatening, which nicely coincides with Sasha opening up. I’ve spent four paragraphs discussing the evolving evolving body language, but it’s an important progression for the audience to make this believable. We go from aggressors > assertion of boundaries > boundaries established and respected > de-escalation of defensive behaviour > opening up. It takes 1minute to get there. ACTING IS MAGIC.

Now Sasha is opening up with her backstory, and see how the shot choice changes? We’ve gone from wide angle body shots to close-up faces. It’s immediately more intimate and emotional. Another note here: obviously this backstory sounds familiar, to us and to Dean. Sasha is also using coping mechanisms we associate with Dean, as she drinks and uses (legal) drugs.

  
That whole dark plain clothes on dark plain background gives us another advantage here as Dean gives Sasha advice, because it leaves a natural focus on Dean’s face. We can linger on his expression without needing any fancy camera angles or close-ups that might distract.

Gorgeous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Screencaps from homeofthenutty.com


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted 19 Nov 2018 at https://kayanem.tumblr.com/post/180277138469/speedy-visual-scene-dissection-spn-14x06-926

I’m not actually going to talk about the cocks. Well, maybe a little.

Instead I’m going to talk about centering. Speight likes to pastiche other directors/genre-typical shots for his episodes, and he makes this brilliant decision in this episode to go all Wes Anderson on us. This is apparent right through the ep, but it’s never more obvious than in the cafe when Dean and Jack are interviewing about Harper.

  
  
  
(Aside: Dean is framed with the two roosters, Jack is framed with the sunset. Not subtle.)

See all the centering? Ok, now go and check out this video:  
  
[VIDEO HERE](https://vimeo.com/89302848)

There’s a little quote from Anderson in the video description where he mentions staging. Yockey roots as a playwright mean his episodes often lend themselves to staging anyway, so this works especially well for him, but especially because the episode hits a lot of the same narrative themes and tonal shifts as Anderson’s work. 

Dean’s costuming here is also amazing. He’s wearing a black suit/white shirt/grey stripe tie. It’s not Dean’s style, at all, because it’s actually Cas’s. He’s literally taking Cas’s place with Jack on the hunt. It also makes him stand out in every scene, which is also not Dean’s style; Dean usually assimilates really well into new environments, and he should be slotting right into all the genre shifts in the episode if he was wearing his usual. Instead he smashes right through all the genre conventions, literally and visually. Which brings me right back to the end of this scene, where the pie arrives, because Dean breaks the genre.

  
(Seriously, look at that suit. That’s CAS.)

  
For a moment we linger in it. Dean goes centered, but when we cut back to Jack, he’s suddenly off-centre. He’s still stuck in the genre moment, but Dean breaks it all up a moment later when he digs into the pie and tells Jack this isn’t like romantic movies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Screencaps from homeofthenutty.com  
> Video from https://fsn-northamerica.org/vidshow/


End file.
